Samgyetang - Korean Ginseng Soup

Ingredients

• Young whole chicken - 500-600 grams
• Samgyetang herbal kit - 1 package (80 grams)
• Spring onion - 1 stalk (forearm sized)
• Ginseng - 1 stalk (optional)
• Water - 4 cups
• Glutinous rice - 1/3 cup
• Jujubes - 3
• Korean chestnuts - 3-5
• Garlic - 3-5 cloves
• Salt - few shakes
• Black pepper - few shakes
• Sesame seeds - few shakes
• Gochugaru - 1/4 cup
• Minced garlic - 1 Tablespoon
• Vinegar - 1 Tablespoon
• Soy Sauce - 2 Tablespoons
• Sugar - 1 teaspoon
• Wasabi - small dab (1/2 teaspoon)
• Samgyetang broth - 1/4 cup

Instructions

1. 1

   Take out a mixing bowl. Wash the glutinous rice and drain the water. Do this 3x. Then fill with cold water and set it aside for 1 hour.

2. 2

   Prep chicken: (1) Snip-off wing-tips. (2) Snip-off the tail (3) Snip-off any visible fat near the cavity of the bird (4) Use a spoon and scrap out any excess debris/blood/etc left in the inside of the bird (5) Thoroughly wash the chicken under running water - including the inside of the bird. (6) Use soap and hot water and wipe down kitchen sink.

3. 3

   Open Samgyetang Herbal kit. Place all of the herbs into the broth pouch.

4. 4

   After 1 hour, drain the rice. Set aside to drip off excess water.

5. 5

   Stuff the chicken: Place 2 garlic cloves, 2 chestnuts, 1 jujube & all of the rice into the chicken. Then cut a hole into the side of the chicken skin (reference video). Cross the chicken legs and fit the upper leg through the hole.

6. 6

   Take out a large pot. Place stuffed chicken into the pot. Then place-in the broth bag and spring onion stalk. You can also throw-in extra cloves of garlic (2-3 max), chestnut and jujube (1-2 max) into the water. As well as a ginseng stalk if you have it.

7. 7

   Bring the pot up to boil without a lid. Once it's boiling, let it hard boil (without the lid) for 10 minutes. Then place the lid on. Reduce heat to a medium-low or low - we're looking for a gentle boil. Then let it boil for 50 minutes with the lid on.

8. 8

   After 1 hour, turn off the heat. (Note: If the broth has reduced too much, simply add more water and let it reduce for another 10 minutes. No problem!)

9. 9

   Then plate the chicken. Now, the soup will taste bland. Before eating, place a small dab of the 'broth seasoning' onto your spoon and mix into the broth. Don't add too much, but season to taste!

10. 10

    Optional: Make the spicy seasoning and use it as an extra dipping sauce for the chicken.